


A Source of Ignition in the Archives!

by Tea_is_Not_Them



Series: Avatar Jon (AKA: Other Entities snag the Archivist) [12]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Archivist Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Desolation Avatar Jonathan "Jon" Sims, Desolation!Jon, Elias Dies Again, Fire, Flirting, Fluff, Found Family, Light Angst, M/M, Shenanigans, lots of fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25385116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_is_Not_Them/pseuds/Tea_is_Not_Them
Summary: Jonathan Sims was transferred down to Artifact Storage before working in the archives, and it changed him a lot. Don't mind the scorch marks on his desk though, its nothing he can't handle.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: Avatar Jon (AKA: Other Entities snag the Archivist) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818751
Comments: 50
Kudos: 338





	A Source of Ignition in the Archives!

**Author's Note:**

> Yall don't know how CLOSE i was to naming this one Jarson (Jon Arson Sims) Anyway heres the fire fear, I actually enjoyed this one a lot!
> 
> My socials!
> 
> Insta: tea_is_not_them  
> Tumblr: tea-is-not-them

There were a few things Tim noticed when he was promoted. He noticed a few things about his new assistants, all three of them he had chosen. 

Martin Blackwood from the Library made amazing tea and knew everyone's tea order by heart. Tim found this sweet, because he knew all of his coworkers drink orders from the hole in the wall bar a few streets down. Martin was shy, scared to mess up, and lied on his CV. Tim didn’t fault him for that.

Sasha James from Research should have gotten the promotion and he knew it. She had been a bit envious but had encouraged him to take the job, knowing that she was probably not even on the radar. And hey Tim always asked her opinions about things, making sure she knew he thought she was the best. Sasha also was a bit of a workaholic. 

Then there was Jonathan Sims. Jon used to be in research with him, but then was transferred to Artifact Storage, a thing that Tim knew Jon would hate. Then Tim brought him down as an assistant, because he missed him, even if Jon was a bit of a bastard. When Jon came back he was different in a lot of ways, but he was still Jon. The second Workaholic. 

\------------

Elias was glaring at Jon from across his desk. Jon placed his hand on the desk, the faint smell of burning wood filling the office. There were singed marks from when Jon’s fingertips had pressed, which made Elias pull a face. Steam rose from where Jon's fingers tapped the wood.

“Timothy Stoker wanted you to work in the archives. I highly discourage you from going down there. Your… skills are better for Artifact Storage.” Elias had his hands clasped and jaw set. After Artifact Storage Jon had become a bit more fiery, a spark that could have become his perfect archivist became a forest fire. Elias knew how much that Lietner had changed and molded the once timid man, and how much that change had hurt Jon. 

Jon gave an impression of innocence, his painted nails tapping the desk, “I wouldn’t turn down a raise. Archives pays well Elias. And I won't burn anything, I rather like this place. Even if I hate you.” He gave a smile that was chilly, the opposite of the words he spoke. 

“Fine. I do have something I’d like you to do.” Elias smiles and Jon raises a brow. Nothing good ever came from Elias smiling. 

“What is it?”

“I want you to mark Tim.”

Jon blinks, “Absolutely not.” He already has a pen and the papers in his hands. He reads through everything and marks out a few lines with a sharp small smile, his movements fast and liquid like lighter fluid. “I don’t hurt people.”

“That’s a lie Jonathan and you know it.”

Jon rolled his eyes, “Yes. I do. But I won’t be hurting people I care about, have a terrible day Elias.” His name was practically burned onto the employment paper.

\------------------

“Cute scrunchie Jon!” Jon looks up from where he was revising statements. His hair was pulled up with the first thing he had grabbed that day. It was a fire red scrunchie. Ah that had been a gift from Georgie back in Uni. He should talk to her. 

“Ah. Thank you Sasha.” He gave her a small quirk of the lips, before looking back down at his desk and the files. He hummed at it. “Before you go off can you hand this to Tim for me?”

Sasha rolls her eyes, “Yeah sure. Another about a Lietner I take?” 

“Yes. Tragically it was burned.” He sounded the opposite of sad about this. Sasha didn’t hide her raised brow and incredulous laugh.

“And you have no clue how it ended up burned?”

Jon blinked and tried to act innocent, “Not a one.” His self satisfied smile that he was trying to hide just made Sasha cross her arms in huffy amusement. Jon was a terrible liar, everyone in the office knew it. 

“Yeah yeah. The ashes are in Artifact Storage I assume?” She grabbed the file folder, before saying over her shoulder, “You know it’s probably bad to have such an arsonist in the Archives.”

Jon indignantly raised a hand to his heart, “I would never destroy a thing in these archives. Important Knowledge.”

Sasha turned, but you could practically feel the eye roll from feet away. Jon went back to doing his work, listening to her open the door to Tim’s office and walk in. He knew that Tim would come out and try to keep a straight face about the burned book, even if he found it amusing, before asking for the ashes to make sure it was truly burnt.

\---------------

“Tea?” Jon blinked out of thought before looking up to see Martin holding a mug out to him. Tim had gotten everyone their own personal archives mug. Sasha’s had a bunch of binary codes, a true testament to her hacking skills. Martin got a mug with a bumblebee on it, which Jon could admit was rather adorable. Tim’s mug was a Best Boss mug, which they had all groaned at. Sasha had thrown a stress ball at him for it, and it had been hilarious when she hit him square in the face. 

Jon rather liked his mug, it had a red cat on it. 

“Ah thank you Martin.” He took the mug with a grateful hum. Martin smiled and bustled away to get everyone else their tea. He watched him walking away, Martin smiling and leaving mugs of tea on desks, not sure as to why. When he looked back down he noticed his tea was boiling in his mug. He snatched his hand away, wincing from surprise but not pain. Whoops. He was glad no one had seen that.

Why did it happen though? He was usually so good at keeping it all under control. He flipped through papers and made sure he didn’t burn any of them. Thankfully only one had a bit of heat damage but it was easily overlook-able. Jon huffed and got back to work, sipping the steaming mug, the warmth feeling nice.

\------

Tim, Martin, and Sasha were sitting in document storage. Jane Prentiss was infesting the whole archives, and Martin was freaking out while pulling worms out from both Tim and Sasha. Tim had gone back for a fire extinguisher and the tape recorder. Sasha got wormed by trying to pull Tim out of the room. In the end he only got the tape recorder, unable to grab the extinguishers. Martin had a few trying to eat through his shoulder, which were easily taken out by Sasha’s unshaking hands. 

Jon had gone out for lunch, but he would be back any second and they were all tense. 

“What’s the plan?” Sasha was trying to breath normally, but everyone was bleeding everywhere and honestly it was a nightmare. In his head Martin applauded her for seeming calmer than she must be. They were all probably going to die.

Tim groaned and leaned on the wall, his head making a solid thud, “I don’t know. I don’t have anything but this stupid tape recorder.”

“Well we could set off the fire alarms?” Martin said shakily. His arm hurt, but he pressed one of his old sleep shirts over it. Sadly it had to be torn up and covered in blood to create bandages for everyone in the room. He wasn’t too worried about it, because he was still freaking out.

Sasha nodded, looking at both of them. She too was pressing a torn piece of shirt against the bloody mess of her leg. 

“Tim, why did you go back for the tape recorder?” Sasha asked, there was no accusation.

Tim sighed and let out a humorless laugh, “I wanted a fire extinguisher, but I don’t know. I guess I don’t want to die without anyone knowing what we did. God getting wormed is the worst death ever.” He threw his arms up in defeat.

“Can’t argue there.” Martin let out a huff of a laugh. There was an almost friendly silence.

“Oh shit is that Jon?” Tim’s eyes were wide, and all three of them crowded around the window. 

Jon walked into the archives and saw a crawling living carpet of worms. His mind was going a mile a minute before he clenched his fist. For some reason he was pissed at these stupid damn worms, he couldn’t even see the steam rising as he came down the stairs. There were scorched footprints where he walked, worms screamed as he walked over them. 

As he looked around, leaving blackened worm guts and corpses wherever he traveled, he found something. It was a file of discredited statements, all very much lies. He gave a grin, his hands starting to burn through the box, the edges blackening as he carried it around. His gaze flickered around like candlelight, thinking of a solution. 

He didn’t notice Tim, Sasha and Martin watching. He looked up at the walls, the new CO2 fire suppression system would go off if he set a fire under a certain alarm. He enjoyed hearing the screams of the disgusting things pain, and he set a chair up so he could reach the ceiling. The fire alarm started blaring. 

CO2 filled the room. Jon looked around and saw Document Storage and the three sets of eyes looking at him. He jumped down from the chair and ran over. Looking at them, he passed out as CO2 and screams filled the room. The three of them were not doing any better, all collapsing from lack of oxygen. 

\--------

The glare Elias had given Jon as he walked in made him feel proud of himself. He was probably angry about the fire, but he saved his friend’s life, even if he put his own in danger. Also he hadn’t destroyed anything important, he knew better than that at least. It would have made their job harder if he burned something that could hold answers for the other three.

He went down to the archives, looking at how a lot had been redone. Probably cost a pretty penny to get the scorched parts replaced. He still wouldn’t find it in himself to be sorry about that, though he was sad his mark on the archives couldn’t have stayed.

Tim was there and Jon remembered just how much he would have to explain.

\----------

“Looking hot today Jon.” Tim said offhandedly. Jon did not see the way he winked at Martin when he complemented Jon. It was more a pun, but Jon looked confused.

He was wearing a red sweater vest and a red skirt. He blinked before suddenly catching the actual meaning and rolling his eyes, “That joke isn’t even funny anymore.”

Tim grins, “But you always fall for it.”

Jon huffs and tries not to smile, “I suppose you’re right.”

Martin walked over and handed him a mug of tea and Jon smiled. Martin gave him one back, “You do look nice today.”

Jon blinked a few times. The sounds of boiling water startled him and steam came from Jon’s head. Martin started apologizing while Tim laughed in the back. 

“Uh. Thank you.” he looked surprised and then set the tea down before it bubbled over on his hand. Jon shrunk a little and Tim was still cackling. 

Sasha took this moment to walk in, her eyes lit up in confused amusement, “What’s going on in here?” 

\--------

Jon stayed late that night. He knows that everyone thinks he went home, he had wanted it to stay that way, but he has some business to do. Elias was still in his office, probably watching Jon as he sits and does paper work. He could feel the eyes on his back. He should sear the wallpaper just to piss the old bastard off.

He had more decorum than that. Just because he was associated with flaming idiotic decisions, did not mean he had to be petty. He would be petty later. 

Jon stands up and dusts himself off, his slacks had a small bit of fire damage on the bottom from where he had stepped on a man who was on fire. The man may or may not have been set on fire by him, but he really did deserve it. 

He walked up to Elias’s office, feeling everything eye shaped watching him, his baby hairs standing on edge. His teeth felt a bit like static. Elias watching him was probably the single grossest thing he could think off, next to the mess his shoes were after Prentiss. The door to his office was ostentatious and Jon was reminded how much of an extra person the head of the institute was. 

“Jon what brings you here?” Elias sounded like he knew exactly what Jon was there for. He sounded smug. He was sitting at his desk, not even trying to look like he wasn’t watching Jon walk up the stairs to the office, watching him walk through hallways confidently, every once in a while leaving a fiery dent on the wall. Only a tiny one. 

“Just to talk. You know how it is.” Jon sits down, and Elias watches in interest. 

Jon can feel Elias trying to dig around his mind. He wasn’t immune to it, but he blinked a few times, gritting his teeth, “Stop that.”

“Why?”

Jon stands up, about to say something.

“Don’t think about it.” Elias grinned, “Or I can show you the disappointment from everyone you know about you. I can make you relive that day, that fear. Why don’t you be good and we can forget this.”

Jon clenched his fists, feeling uncharacteristically angry, “Fuck you.”

He can feel all the disappointment, the fear of that night, feeling his soles burning and hands itching and crackling like sparks. He can feel the eyes of all the people he had let down, he knows what each separate complaint meant and who said it. Then right after that he could feel that helplessness of being remade. 

Elias is transmitting straight into his mind but that doesn’t stop him from taking a hand and searing the man’s mouth shut. The heat started to bubble his skin and Jon kept pressing his hand downwards feeling muscles melting, the fear the man emitted fueling the fire that blazed inside Jon.

He would live if Jon stopped at that, permanently disfigured yes, but alive. Elias was still drilling the horrible emotions into his head and Jon smiled through the pain, before placing his thumbs over Elias’s eyes and pressing. The smell was something awful, but Jon simply didn’t care.

He started at the now useless body. He wiped his cooling hands on Elias’s suit, the burnt skin and eye fluids making Jon scowl. He had been crying, the tears turning into steam. Now that he was at normal temperature, Jon felt the wetness slide down his face. Jon wondered how much work it would be to drag the body down to the tunnels. He could cremate him.

\----------

Martin sat with Tim, who was holding a file and grinning. Sasha raised a brow.

“What are you getting into now Timothy?”

“I am your boss, don't use that tone on me.” Tim teased, Sasha rolled her eyes. “It's a statement about a man named Jack Barnabas.”

Tim dramatically read a few parts out loud, doing different voices and over-dramatizing the whole affair. There was something he was trying to say, making dorky faces along with the words. Was that a tape recorder next to him? When did that get there and who turned it on?

“This sounds like Martin to Jon.” Sasha says casually. Tim lights up.

“That's what I was trying to get at! Do you think kissing Jon would melt your face Marto?”

Martin goes red and hides his face in his hands, he was saying something about being quiet because Jon was in the next room over. Sasha was trying to hide her snorts, making kissy noises at Martin, her hands making a heart. Tim added to it by making sizzling noises, which was periodically interrupted by his laughter.

The door opened and the teasing stopped momentarily when Jon came in. He was holding his empty mug and looked confused around the room. 

“Did I interrupt something?”

There were overlapping answers, Martin said ‘no of course not’ and Tim and Sasha saying ‘yes.’ Jon’s brows scrunched and he put his mug away. He sat down curiously next to Martin, the only seat open. Still Tim wiggled his eyebrows out of eyesight. 

Tim grinned, “Have you heard of this statement? Jack Barnabas and Agnes. Would you burn someone if you kissed them? I’m curious.”

Jon blinked a few times, “I haven’t tried but I don't think so? And stop flirting.” He takes the statement and skims through it and makes a face. “Poor guy. Also can she not control what she does? That seems a bit impractical.”

\-----

Jon carefully holds Martin’s hand. They were warm, which was nice against London cold. Martin smiled, feeling very happy. As they walked Jon was careful not to burn his hand, and Martin was ever grateful for it. The conversation moved from work to tea to the most bizarre animals they both knew of. 

When they ended up at Martin's flat, Jon got on his tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. His hands leaving Martin’s. He could feel the warmth from a foot away.

“I guess it’s not like Agnes.” Martin teased, and Jon flushed. He gave Jon a quick kiss to the forehead. “Be safe.”

“Of course. See you tomorrow.” They shared a smile and a wave, before Martin went inside to swoon in peace.


End file.
